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Sunday, May 25, 2008

“Update from VA Wildlife Center”

The Virginia Wildlife Center is doing an excellent job in providing us all information regarding the eaglet's condition. A definitive diagnosis and course of action will require the information gathered from the tests that the Wildife Center is performing as well as the biopsy. Results from the biopsy are expected in the upcoming week. As always we will continue to post updates as new information is received.

From the Virginia Wildlife Center:The eagle is doing well, with no significant changes from Friday. The bird continues to eat very well; on Friday the eagle ate six large mice (two mice at each of three feedings). We plan to introduce fish to his diet today. The bird was anesthetized on Friday for radiographs, which were unremarkable other than the mass on the beak. Bloodwork (complete blood count) was performed to make sure that there was no underlying infection. We plan to perform another blood test (serum biochemistry) in the next couple of days to better evaluate organ function. [This is just routine bloodwork; we do not anticipate any abnormalities]. Based on the radiographs, the soft-tissue mass does not appear to involve the sinuses; however, it has distorted the wall of the beak. We are taking the eagle to Augusta Medical Center in Fishersville on Saturday afternoon for an MRI. This form of imaging will give us more information regarding just how invasive and destructive this mass is to the underlying tissue.